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The Vicious Cycle of Discrimination

Yesterday, I was very irritated. My annoyance sparked from responses I saw on my Facebook timeline to this Guardian article. (As I said, a few of my friends are Goans, and of course that keeps me connected to greater Goan population via their timelines.)

Honestly, the article isn’t that great to begin with, but it raises some valid points. However, the comments made me see red. This one in particular:

“You rich Indians”

Yup. That got my goat. I am not prone to starting massive comment wars online, however I needed an outlet from the frustration. So I blogged about it. In my anger and frustration at this rampant discrimination and hypocrisy (the author of the first comment lives in Portugal), I went down to their level.

Not all Goans are so small-minded and discriminatory. Like any other human group, they encompass a spectrum: from good to bad, nice to awful, kind to cruel, and so on. These characteristics are not restricted to one group, and to assign them these stereotypes is the foundation of racism.

I am ashamed that I made these sweeping statements, because it is exactly what made me angry in the first place. On calmer reflection, my thoughts haven’t changed too much but they are now centred on the individuals rather than a homogeneous group.

There is horror in my mind that I will discriminate against a group. I may not particularly like human beings because I have seen the dregs of humanity, but I cannot lump them together based on a characteristic. That’s just wrong.